JP2012172240A - Sputtering apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inexpensive sputtering apparatus having excellent workability which preferably forms a thin film made of various material on the whole surface of an object to be treated having various shapes and material kinds.SOLUTION: In the sputtering apparatus, a barrel 5 for storing the object 3 to be treated and a sputtering cathode 7 having a target surface are disposed in a vacuum vessel 1. The object to be treated in the barrel is rolled and mixed by applying the movement assembling rotation, forward/backward movement and rocking to the barrel, thereby film forming of a target material is performed on the total surface of the object to be treated.

Description

The present invention relates to a sputtering apparatus for forming a thin film on the surface of an object to be processed. Plating for forming a thin film on the surface of the workpiece is generally classified into wet plating and dry plating. The sputtering apparatus according to the present invention belongs to dry plating.

The object to be treated in the present invention is formed of a metal, a synthetic resin, ceramics, or the like having a size that can be accommodated in a cubic container having an inner side dimension of about 10 μm to 10 mm. It does not matter whether the shape is a body, a rectangular parallelepiped, a pyramid or the like. The object to be processed in the present invention includes, for example, a decorative article, a screw, a pin, a machine part, and the like.

Japanese Patent No. 3620842 discloses a polygon in which a thin film is formed on the surface of a fine particle by accommodating the fine particle in a polygonal vacuum vessel having a target and rotating or vibrating the vacuum vessel. Barrel sputtering equipment (hereinafter referred to as “conventional sputtering equipment”) is provided.

On the other hand, a glass plating apparatus in wet plating is also known. The glass plating apparatus is configured to rotate, vibrate, swing, and the like in a state where a fine work is housed in the container.

Japanese Patent No. 3620842

  However, in the above-described conventional sputtering apparatus, the fine particles exist on the horizontal plane in the polygonal vacuum vessel for most of the time during which the thin film is formed on the surface of the fine particles. Therefore, in order to form a thin film on the entire surface of the fine particles, the entire surface of the fine particles needs to be directed evenly in the flying direction of the deposited particles. In other words, in the conventional sputtering apparatus, in order to form a thin film on the entire surface of the fine particles, the thin film must be formed by multi-source sputtering in which a plurality of targets are provided on a plurality of cathodes. . Therefore, in order to arrange a plurality of cathodes in the vacuum vessel, a large vacuum vessel is required. As a result, there is a problem that a large-capacity vacuum pump is required, and the entire apparatus is increased in size and complexity, resulting in increased manufacturing costs and operating costs.

  On the other hand, the above-described conventional glass plating apparatus can form a uniform film on the surface of a workpiece having a complicated shape, but requires post-processing such as washing and drying, resulting in an ionized solution. There is a problem that a film material is required and that it is difficult to form a compound, an alloy, an insulator, or the like. In addition, a technique for forming a film of a compound, an alloy, an insulator, etc. by a dry method corresponding to the above-described conventional glass plating has a short history, and is not industrially unfinished.

  The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems in the above-mentioned conventional technology, and preferably forms a thin film of various materials on the entire surface of an object to be processed having various shapes and materials and is inexpensive and excellent in workability. It was made to offer.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides the following sputtering apparatus.

(1) A barrel for storing an object to be processed and a sputtering cathode having a target surface are disposed in the vacuum vessel, and the barrel is subjected to a combination of rotation, advance / retreat, and swing, thereby providing the barrel. A sputtering apparatus characterized in that the target object is rolled and mixed to form a target material on the entire surface of the target object (claim 1).

(2) The vacuum vessel is provided with a rotary shaft that penetrates the vacuum vessel in and out while maintaining the vacuum inside the vacuum vessel, the inner end of the rotary shaft is connected to the barrel, and the rotary shaft is A means for rotating, a means for moving the rotating shaft back and forth, and a means for swinging the rotating shaft are arranged.

(3) The barrel is entirely or partially formed of a porous body (Claim 3).

(4) The side facing the sputtering cathode in the barrel is opened to form an opening, and a lid formed of a porous body is detachably provided in the opening.

(5) A plurality of the barrels are arranged in the vacuum vessel, a sun gear is attached to the inner end of the rotating shaft, a plurality of planetary gears are engaged with the sun gear, and each planetary gear is connected to each barrel. (Claim 5).

[Invention of Claim 1]
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the object to be processed in the barrel is rolled and mixed by giving the barrel that accommodates the object to be processed a combination of rotation, advance / retreat, and swinging. Thin films made of various materials can be preferably formed on the entire surface of the workpiece having various shapes and materials. It is not necessary to suspend or lock the workpiece. Therefore, this sputtering apparatus can be provided at low cost and is excellent in workability.

This sputtering apparatus is similar to the above-described conventional glass plating apparatus in that it provides rotation, advance / retreat, swing, etc. to the barrel for storing the object to be processed. Various problems in the conventional glass plating apparatus do not occur.

  Since this sputtering apparatus uses a sputtering method, plating of almost any target type is possible. That is, in addition to titanium plating, tungsten plating, aluminum plating, etc., which are impossible with wet plating, binary alloys such as alloy plating of gold and aluminum, alloy plating of tungsten and chromium, alloy plating of titanium and nickel, etc. Further, ternary alloys and quaternary alloys can be plated depending on the number of targets. Needless to say, plating treatment of nickel, chromium, copper, tin, zinc, gold, silver, iridium, rhodium, palladium, or the like performed by wet plating is possible.

  In addition, since the sputtering apparatus does not use a solution such as a metal salt, oxide, silicon oxide, alumina, and titanium oxide can be plated. Furthermore, it is possible to plate this in multiple layers such as two layers and three layers.

[Invention of claim 2]
By operating the means for rotating the rotating shaft, the means for moving the rotating shaft back and forth, and the means for swinging the rotating shaft, the object to be processed in the barrel is rolled and mixed. A target material can be preferably formed on the entire surface of the workpiece.

[Invention of claim 3]
Since the barrel is entirely or partially formed of a porous body, the film forming material preferably passes through the pores of the porous body and reaches the surface of the object to be processed.

[Invention of claim 4]
Since the side of the barrel facing the sputtering cathode is opened to form an opening, and a lid formed of a porous body is detachably provided in the opening, the lid preferably allows the film-forming material to pass therethrough and the opening. Prevents the workpiece from falling.

[Invention of claim 5]
The planetary gear meshing with the sun gear revolves around the sun gear while rotating. That is, each barrel connected to each planetary gear performs planetary motion. Therefore, each barrel performs a complicated movement coupled with advance / retreat and swing, and the workpieces in the barrel preferably roll and mix.

  It is possible to store different lots of objects to be processed in a plurality of barrels, and to form these objects under the same film forming conditions. That is, simultaneous film formation of a small amount and many kinds can be performed efficiently.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a sputtering apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the barrel is swung in the sputtering apparatus. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the sputtering apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the barrel is swung in the sputtering apparatus.

  First, the examples shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described.

  What is shown by the code | symbol 1 is the vacuum vessel of a sputtering device. The inside of the vacuum vessel 1 is evacuated to a pressure required for vacuum film formation by a vacuum exhaust system (not shown).

  In the vacuum vessel 1, a barrel 5 that accommodates the workpiece 3 and a sputtering cathode 7 having a target surface are disposed. The side of the barrel 5 facing the sputtering cathode 7 is opened to form an opening 5a. A plurality of sputtering cathodes 7 are preferably arranged, and an alloy, a compound, or the like of an arbitrary composition of the target material mounted on each sputtering cathode 7 is formed by controlling the power applied to each sputtering cathode 7 separately. be able to. As the sputtering cathode 7, not only a magnetron cathode but also a cathode suitable for a film forming material such as a non-magnetron (conventional) cathode or an arc cathode can be used.

  In the vacuum vessel 1, a reflector 9 and a heater 11 are disposed. The heater 11 heats the workpiece 3 in the barrel 5, and the heater 11 can control the temperature of the barrel 5 and the workpiece 3 in the barrel 5 during film formation.

  By giving the barrel 5 a combination of rotation, advance / retreat, and swing, the workpiece 3 in the barrel 5 rolls and mixes, so that the target material is formed on the entire surface of the workpiece 3. Do the membrane.

  That is, the vacuum vessel 1 is provided with a rotating shaft 13 that penetrates the vacuum vessel 1 in and out while maintaining the vacuum inside the vacuum vessel 1. An inner end 13a of the rotary shaft 13 is detachably connected to the barrel 5, and means for rotating the rotary shaft 13, means for moving the rotary shaft 13 back and forth, and means for swinging the rotary shaft 13 are arranged. Set up.

  The vacuum vessel 1 is in a state where the vacuum in the vacuum vessel 1 is maintained, that is, without breaking the vacuum in the vacuum vessel 1, and a rotation introduction seal 15 that can introduce the rotation of the rotary shaft 13, A bellows 17 is provided that can introduce advancing / retreating and swinging of the rotary shaft 13 while maintaining the vacuum in the vacuum vessel 1, that is, without breaking the vacuum in the vacuum vessel 1.

  As a means for rotating the rotary shaft 13, a rotary drive motor 23 is attached to the drive mechanism flange 19 via an insulating stud 21. The rotation introduction seal 15 is electrically insulated from the drive mechanism flange 19 by an insulating bush 25 and electrically insulated from the rotation drive motor 23 by an insulating coupling 27. Therefore, a bias electric field can be applied to the workpiece 3 in the barrel 5 through the barrel 5.

  As means for moving the rotary shaft 13 back and forth and means for swinging the rotary shaft 13, one end 29 a of the plurality of linear actuators 29 is fixed to the vacuum vessel 1, and the other end 29 b is pivoted to the drive mechanism flange 19 via the pivot 31. I wear it. Although only one pair of the linear actuators 29 is shown in the upper and lower directions, another pair (not shown) may be disposed on the front side and the back side of each figure.

When the linear actuators 29 are simultaneously operated in the same direction for the same distance, the rotary shaft 13 advances and retreats, and the barrel 5 connected to the inner end 13a of the rotary shaft 13 also advances and retreats. Further, when each linear actuator 29 is operated separately, the barrel 5 swings in a desired direction.

Therefore, by rotating the rotation drive motor 23 and controlling each linear actuator 29, it is possible to give the barrel 5 a combination of rotation, advance / retreat, and swing. The workpiece 3 in the barrel 5 is efficiently stirred by such movement of the barrel 5. By moving the barrel 5 back and forth at a high speed, the workpiece 3 can be moved in the front-rear direction of the rotating shaft 13 like a bean roast. By agitating the barrel 5, the stirring efficiency of the workpiece 3 is increased.

The stirring efficiency of the workpiece 3 can be further improved by appropriately changing the rotational speed, advance / retreat speed, swing angle, etc. of the barrel 5 depending on the shape of the workpiece 3 and the like.

The barrel 5 is preferably formed entirely or partially by the porous body 33. The porous body 33 includes a net-like body. The size of the hole or mesh in the porous body 33 varies depending on the shape or dimension of the workpiece 3.

The opening 5a in the barrel is preferably detachably provided with a lid 35 formed of a porous body 33.

  Next, the examples shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 will be described. For the cases shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, only differences from the cases shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be described.

  A plurality of the barrels 5 are arranged in the vacuum vessel 1, a sun gear 41 is attached to the inner end 13 a ′ of the rotating shaft 13, a plurality of planetary gears 43 are engaged with the sun gear 41, and each planetary gear 43 is engaged. Are connected to each barrel 5.

  Reference numeral 45 denotes a sun gear fixing flange, and reference numeral 47 denotes a sun gear fixing flange mounting collar attached to the sun gear fixing flange 45. The sun gear fixing flange mounting collar 47 is fitted on the rotation introduction seal 15. A rotation shaft 49 of each planetary gear 43 is rotatably supported by the revolution flange 51 and is connected to each barrel 5.

  When the rotation drive motor 23 rotates, the sun gear 41 rotates through the rotating shaft 13, and a plurality of planetary gears 43 that mesh with the sun gear 41 revolve around the sun gear 41. Accordingly, each barrel 5 performs a so-called planetary rotation (revolution) operation that revolves while revolving.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vacuum container 3 To-be-processed object 5 Barrel 5a Opening part 7 Sputtering cathode 9 Reflector 11 Heater 13 Rotating shaft 13a Inner end 13a 'Inner end 15 Rotation introduction seal 17 Bellows 19 Drive mechanism flange 21 Insulation stud 23 Rotation drive motor 25 Insulation bush 27 Insulating coupling 29 Linear actuator 29a One end 29b The other end 31 Pivot 33 Porous body 35 Lid 41 Sun gear 43 Planetary gear 45 Sun gear fixing flange 47 Sun gear fixing flange mounting collar 49 Rotating shaft 51 Revolving flange

Claims (5)

  A vacuum container is provided with a barrel for storing an object to be processed and a sputtering cathode having a target surface. The barrel is subjected to a combination of rotation, forward / backward movement, and swinging to provide a target in the barrel. A sputtering apparatus characterized by rolling and mixing a processed material to form a target material on the entire surface of the processed material.   The vacuum vessel is provided with a rotary shaft that penetrates the vacuum vessel in and out while maintaining the vacuum inside the vacuum vessel, and an inner end of the rotary shaft is connected to the barrel, and the rotary shaft is rotated. The sputtering apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means for moving the rotating shaft back and forth; and means for swinging the rotating shaft.   The sputtering apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the barrel is entirely or partially formed of a porous body.   The side facing the sputtering cathode in the barrel is opened to form an opening, and a lid formed of a porous body is detachably provided in the opening. Sputtering equipment.   A plurality of the barrels are arranged in the vacuum vessel, a sun gear is attached to the inner end of the rotating shaft, a plurality of planetary gears are engaged with the sun gear, and each planetary gear is connected to each barrel. The sputtering apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the sputtering apparatus is characterized.

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